Kansas head football coach David Beaty responds to questions during Big 12 media days, Monday, July 18, 2016, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

David Beaty was asked at Big 12 Media Days if he has found his job as football coach at Kansas to be as tough as he thought it would be, and naturally he polished his answer with positive paint.

The Kansas job is considered a career-killer by many, and several factors do make it a risky challenge for a young coach to undertake.

More later on why the timing makes it a less-dangerous venture than at some other points. First, a look at some of the reasons it’s not a job successful coaches crave.

The lack of a sustained winning tradition ranks at the top for the same reason that KU’s dominance in basketball is the top reason it’s such a great job.

Next, geography plays a part. The state has two Div. I football programs and doesn’t produce nearly as many prospects as bordering Oklahoma in part because its population is not only greater (3.9 million, compared to 2.9), but more spread out.

Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, would be third in Oklahoma, behind Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Dense populations make for better competition, better leagues and in turn athletes more prepared for the speed and physicality of the college game.

Sharing an athletic department with a basketball giant helps recruiting. So many players trace the moment they decided to commit to Kansas football to the moment they sat in Allen Fieldhouse, blown away by the atmosphere.

It also makes it easier for the fan base to slip into apathy, counting the days until basketball elevates their moods.

Many donors won’t even discuss helping the football program, preferring to back a winner.

Beaty has a difficult job, all right, but not as difficult as the blinding spotlight Jim Grobe put himself under when he accepted an offer to become successor to fired Art Briles. In so doing, Grobe became boss of the assistants who tolerated the culture that led to Briles’ firing in the wake of a sexual-assault scandal.

Texas’ Charlie Strong has a worse job because the pressure is so intense he won’t be given the time to establish his winning ways.

This isn’t the worst time to be KU’s football coach because expectations are so low, the fan base so tuned out, that Beaty doesn’t have to feel tempted to get in his own way by making short-term decisions at the expense of the future. Of the dozen Class of 2017 recruits who made oral pledges to Kansas, one is from a junior college, the rest from high school.

There is no easy time to head KU’s football program, but there have been tougher times.